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ChristianaCare ranked as 81st best hospital in the United States and the only health system in Delaware to make the list For the fifth consecutive year, ChristianaCare has earned a spot in Newsweek’s exclusive list of the World’s Best Hospitals – United States, recognized for consistently being at the forefront in care, research and innovation. “Receiving this honor year after year is a testament to the work ChristianaCare caregivers do each day to create health together so that every person can flourish,” said ChristianaCare President & CEO Janice E. Nevin, M.D., MPH. “At its core our mission is a simple, yet profound, one. We take care of people. And I am so proud of everyone in this organization for what five-straight years of being called one of the World’s Best Hospitals says about the exceptional quality of the care we provide.” Headquartered in Wilmington, Del., ChristianaCare ranked 81st in the United States in the annual list that ranks 2,300 hospitals in 28 countries. “ChristianaCare has gained a global reputation thanks to our unwavering focus to provide expert, high-quality care,” said Kert Anzilotti, M.D., MBA, chief medical officer at ChristianaCare. “This award belongs to all our caregivers, who continuously seek new knowledge, are true to their word and are committed to delivering exceptional care to every patient we serve.” Compiled by Newsweek and the global data firm Statista, the lists are based on the following data sources: Recommendations from tens of thousands of doctors, health care professionals and managers across the world. The survey asked participants to recommend hospitals in their own country as well as in other countries. The survey did not permit recommendations of the health professional’s own hospital. Patient surveys originating from publicly available data that included areas such as their general satisfaction with the hospital and their satisfaction with their medical care. Hospital quality metrics such as data on the quality of care for specific treatments, data on hygiene measures and patient safety, and data on clinician-patient ratios. The Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROM) surveys, which are standardized, validated questionnaires completed by patients to measure their well-being and quality of life. The recognition by Newsweek echoes other quality recognitions that ChristianaCare has received during the past 12 months: For the third consecutive year, Healthgrades named ChristianaCare one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals for 2023. Healthgrades also ranked ChristianaCare as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals for five service lines: cardiac care, coronary intervention, joint replacement, spine surgery and gastrointestinal surgery. For the seventh consecutive year, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives named ChristianaCare a Most Wired Health Care Technology Leader. U.S. News & World Report rated ChristianaCare as the No. 42 hospital in the nation for obstetrics and gynecology and a High Performing Hospital for Maternity. U.S. News & World Report also rated ChristianaCare as high-performing in orthopedics. For the second consecutive year, Forbes ranked ChristianaCare as one of the Best Employers for Diversity and Inclusion in the United States. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation gave ChristianaCare’s Christiana Hospital and Wilmington Hospital the top score in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s most recent Healthcare Equality Index.
ChristianaCare Rated a High Performing Hospital for Maternity by U.S. News & World Report
ChristianaCare is the only health system in Delaware to earn the High Performing designation from U.S. News ChristianaCare has earned the highest award for maternity care that a hospital can achieve from U.S. News & World Report in its 2022-23 ratings for Best Hospitals for Maternity Care. Rated as a High Performing Hospital, ChristianaCare was the only health system in Delaware to earn this esteemed honor. Christiana Hospital at ChristianaCare’s Newark Campus is the only high-risk delivering hospital in the First State offering Level III neonatal intensive care. More than 6,100 babies are born at Christiana Hospital each year. The U.S. News Best Hospitals for Maternity Care methodology is based entirely on objective measures of quality, such as C-section rates in lower-risk pregnancies, newborn complication rates, exclusive breast milk feeding rates, early elective delivery rates and vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) rates, among other measures. “When we announced plans seven years ago to build the ChristianaCare Center for Women’s & Children’s Health, we affirmed our commitment to provide superior-quality care for women and infants in our region,” said Matthew Hoffman, M.D., MPH, FACOG, Marie E. Pinizzotto, M.D., Endowed Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at ChristianaCare. “This prestigious recognition is an affirmation that patients who choose to give birth at ChristianaCare will have access to the very best services and expertise to ensure a safe delivery and a healthy baby.” Just two years ago ChristianaCare opened the Center for Women’s & Children’s Health, an eight-story, approximately 400,000-square-foot tower at Christiana Hospital. The center uses the most up-to-date, evidence-based models of care, with improved integration of services and the space to offer innovative patient-centered care for mothers, babies and families. One of the most significant features of the new center is a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), featuring private rooms with sleep-in space for families. Christiana Hospital is one of the only hospitals in the United States to provide “couplet care” in the NICU, keeping the mother and baby together even if they both require medical care. This is based on a European model demonstrating that moms are more likely to breastfeed in this environment, which is particularly important in the early development of children. “We best achieve optimal health and flourish when we are able to begin our lives as healthy newborns,” said David Paul, M.D., chair of ChristianaCare’s Department of Pediatrics. “Building this transformative women’s and children’s hospital was a way to invest in the future of our community’s children. In addition to our outstanding caregivers and the care we provide within the walls of the hospital, this facility is a monumental step forward in enabling us to care for moms and babies, and we are delighted that U.S. News has recognized what a special place it is.” Other innovative features at the center include: Expanded labor and delivery suites. Private rooms for mothers and families after delivery. A spacious, multi-level Ronald McDonald Family Room to support families with infants who are in intensive care. Expanded OB/GYN emergency services area and new labor lounge. Separate admitting and discharge areas for the convenience of our patients. A tranquil family rooftop garden that provides spaces for play and relaxation. Vibrant sibling play spaces with interactive displays and artwork, and open community spaces for health education and programs. U.S. News’ annual evaluation is designed to assist expectant parents and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive maternity care. U.S. News evaluated nearly 650 hospitals that provide high-quality labor and delivery services for uncomplicated pregnancies for its 2022-2023 Best Hospitals for Maternity Care. Fewer than half of all hospitals that offer maternity care and participated in the survey received a High Performing designation. “When expectant parents are considering their options for welcoming a baby to the world, the Best Hospitals for Maternity Care are designed to help them identify hospitals that excel in delivering babies for uncomplicated pregnancies,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News & World Report. “A hospital that has earned a High Performing designation may be a good option for parents, in consultation with their medical provider, to consider.” Excellence in Maternity Care Built on Experience and Research ChristianaCare’s Center for Women’s & Children’s Health includes Delaware’s most experienced maternity team, and it is also a significant research institution. Since opening, the Center for Women’s & Children’s Health participated in a significant study that found that treating mild chronic hypertension with medications is beneficial and safe for mother and baby. Published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the world’s foremost medical journal, the study has the potential to change the standard of care for some pregnant women, as it represented the first time that comprehensive, evidence-based data showed the benefits of treating mild forms of chronic hypertension during pregnancy. “Our commitment to research is a path to better caring for our community,” said Dr. Hoffman, a co-author in the study. About ChristianaCare Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,299 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute. ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.
Last month, President Biden had a very direct message for colleges and universities looking to navigate through the choppy waters of state politics in the face of the recent US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe. v. Wade. As Idaho state legislators get to work rolling out its “trigger ban,” President Biden bashed the University of Idaho over its new guidance against offering birth control for students. “Folks, what century are we in? What are we doing? I respect everyone’s view on this — personal decision they make. But, my lord, we’re talking about contraception here. It shouldn’t be that controversial,” Biden said during last month's meeting of the White House Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access. Image: White House Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access Meeting However the new policy by the University of Idaho goes further and advises employees not to speak about reproductive rights at work and warns they could face a felony conviction for promoting abortion, The Washington Post reported. While President Biden warned other universities to not enact the same policies. and said that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will look at steps to protect college students and school employees in Idaho or other states where access to contraception is at risk, these events are sparking a larger debate around academic freedom. With such a polarized political landscape dividing much of the country on key issues such as abortion, should we be worried about what’s next? How do these actions in effect suppress important research and informed perspectives provided by academics? While state governments as critical funding sources for higher education have wielded considerable influence, these more overt actions to sanction freedom of speech is a disturbing trend. Academics, researchers and staff within an institution require rights and privileges essential to the fulfilment of primary functions: instruction; the pursuit of knowledge and service to the community. Central among these rights is the freedom, within the law, for faculty experts to pursue what seems to them as relevant avenues of inquiry, to teach and to learn unhindered by external or non-academic constraints, and to engage in full and unrestricted consideration of any opinion. Critics argue that suppression of these freedoms, whether by the government, the officers of the institution, or the actions of private individuals, would prevent a University from carrying out its primary functions. A core principle of scholarship is the freedom to express ideas through respectful dialogue and the pursuit of open discussion, without risk of censure. Other Universities Have Taken a Different Stance... Vanderbilt University This argument has been supported by other schools and the examples they have set. School officials at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, where a near-total ban on abortions took effect within the state in August, coordinated a reproductive-health task force and announced stronger support for reproductive health and parenting, even appointing a new leader to convene these resources for the University, The Washington Post reports. Elsewhere we are also seeing similar support by State University Officials in Michigan where a 1931 ban has been ruled unenforceable by the courts. The University of Michigan In the lead-up to the Roe V Wade reversal, The University of Michigan created an abortion-care task force of experts to reduce the potential impact of a state-wide ban, created by Mary Sue Coleman, the president of the University of Michigan, as reported by The Detroit News. Coleman wrote “I will do everything in my power as President to ensure we continue to provide this critically important care.” in a statement in June, after the Supreme Court ruling. The president told The Detroit News that "we have a female-dominated institution; we care about our own communities as well as those we serve through clinical care and education," Coleman said. "I am deeply concerned about how prohibiting abortion would affect UM's medical teaching, our research, and our service to communities in need.” Concerns regarding the imminent crackdown on University campuses on the discussion and offer of birth control to students were expressed by many University officials in the months leading up to Idaho’s guidance on the matter. Dee Fenner, co-chair of the task force and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Michigan Medicine spoke of the clinical and educational impacts of an abortion ban in Michigan, as reported by The Detroit News. "The most serious consequences will be felt in the university’s clinical care realm, by patients without financial or logistical resources to access out-of-state abortion care — disproportionately people of colour, adolescents and those in rural Michigan," Fenner said. “But the impact will be felt in our classrooms as well, where pregnancy, undesired birth or complications of unsafe abortion may impact educational attainment.” Another consideration will be the additional “brain drain” that institutions in these states will experience with faculty experts leaving for institutions with less restrictive policies. It also could have a significant impact on recruitment as more students choose schools where their reproductive rights are protected. Speaking to the Michigan Daily, a sophomore at the University of Michigan, Miya Brado describes the day that it was announced Michigan had enough signatures as “one of the best days ever”, with the hard work “finally paying off.” We must recognize this fundamental principle and must share responsibility for supporting, safeguarding and preserving this central freedom. Behaviour that obstructs free and full discussion, not only of ideas that are safe and accepted but of those which may be unpopular, vitally threatens the integrity of our educational and research institutions.
ChristianaCare Launches Gender Wellness Program for Transgender and Gender Diverse Individuals
Pride Month announcement highlights need for quality health care for LGBTQ+ community ChristianaCare has opened a Gender Wellness Program to provide psychotherapy and support services for individuals age 13 and older who are exploring their gender identity or experiencing gender dysphoria—a sense of incongruence and distress that a person may have because of a mismatch between their gender identity and their sex affirmed at birth. Downloadable: PHOTOS VIDEO The program also provides treatment for any behavioral health condition the individual may be struggling with, such as anxiety and depression. People who identify as transgender have higher rates of suicide attempts than individuals who do not identify as transgender, according to the National Institutes of Health. “ChristianaCare aims to provide the safest, highest quality health care and the best experience possible for our entire community, guided by our values of love and excellence,” said Mustafa A. Mufti, M.D., interim chair of the ChristianaCare Department of Psychiatry. “Caring for our entire community means providing sensitive, compassionate, and state-of-the-art behavioral health and medical care to transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Our Gender Wellness Program will help improve health equity and outcomes for individuals and families who need these services. We know that transgender and gender-diverse individuals face health disparities, and our program will help address that.” The program follows the guidelines of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). WPATH promotes the highest standards of health care for the health of transsexual, transgender and gender-nonconforming people based on the best available science and expert professional consensus. “Our Gender Wellness Program is ready to support anyone age 13 or older who is exploring their gender identity, experiencing gender dysphoria or who needs education and support around social and medical transition,” said Brett E. Herb, DSW, LCSW, program manager of the Gender Wellness Program. Dr. Herb has been in clinical practice for more than 25 years as a psychotherapist and a clinical and administrative manager for numerous behavioral health programs, and has been working with the transgender and gender-diverse populations for the past 17 years. “We provide referrals to compassionate, gender-affirming health care experts,” Dr. Herb said. “Often, families find themselves having to educate their primary care providers, schools, neighbors and family members about how to appropriately care for gender-diverse individuals. Our program provides individuals and families with access to specially trained gender therapists they can trust who can get them the answers they need to help navigate the complexities they may encounter.” The Gender Wellness Program provides referrals to trans-competent primary care providers who prescribe gender-affirming hormone treatment, along with specialists for gynecological and obstetrics care. The program offers individual, couples, family and group therapy sessions. It also provides existing patients with assistance with personal documentation changes and letters of surgical support. “This program has provided me with tremendous support throughout my transition,” said Julie Brown of Wilmington, Delaware. “My therapist empathizes with what I am experiencing in my life, and has guided me through my evolution. The group therapy sessions help me understand that I am not alone. “We form a community, share information and support each other in a safe environment. My child is also a patient of the Gender Wellness Program. Their support has helped him deal with my changes and understand his gender dysphoria.” “Brett Herb and the Gender Wellness Program have helped me grow the confidence I needed,” said Kristopher Snedeker of Newark, Delaware. “Working with the professionals at the program has provided resources to help further my gender transition to become who I truly am.” Gender therapists at the Gender Wellness Program are: Brett E. Herb, DSW, LCSW, Program Manager. Amanda Pope Evans, MSW, LCSW. Katherine Goemaat-Suarez, MSW, LCSW. ChristianaCare is a national leader in LGBTQ+ health care. For the past 11 consecutive years, Christiana and Wilmington hospitals have been recognized by the Healthcare Equality Index as an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader. Individuals who would like to learn more can contact the Gender Wellness Program at genderwellnessprogram@christianacare.org or call 302-623-6773. For more on ChristianaCare’s LGBTQ+ health initiatives, visit LGBTQ Health Initiatives.
Earlier this week, President Joe Biden proclaimed that April 11 thru 17 would be Black Maternal Health Week in America. In Georgia, the state has consistently been ranked as one of the most dangerous places in this country to be a new mother. Approximately 26 Georgia women die from pregnancy complications for every 100,000 live births, compared to the national average of about 17 women. But even more devastating is the fact that about 60% of the state’s maternal deaths between 2012 and 2016 were found to be preventable, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. And the mortality rates are much more tragic for Black women in Georgia. African American women are almost three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women in Georgia. Black mothers in rural areas of Georgia are at an even higher risk. “Maternal and infant mortality are really significant indicators of the quality of health in any area, so my colleagues around Georgia really felt challenged to do something that we hadn’t done in a long time in our state, which was to get the data,” says Dr. Chad Ray. “Because you can’t really fix something unless you know who and why. And then you assemble the stakeholders to formulate a plan to make a dent and to move the needle on something that is just so important.” This is an important topic that impacts mothers in Georgia and across the entire United States. And if you are a journalist looking to cover this topic – then let us help. Dr. Chad Ray is the Interim Section Chief of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Augusta University Medical Center. He is an expert in the areas of maternal mortality & global women's health initiatives. Dr. Ray is available to speak with media about Black Maternal Health Week - simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
